… random observations from my journeys through a well-lived life

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There’s another storm watch from the weather-wobblies. I’m a sucker for ‘aw’ videos of our world. Here’s one of Earth, from a different perspective… [embedplusvideo height=”507″ width=”640″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/8UQmvurCgTg?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=8UQmvurCgTg&width=640&height=507&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep1072″ /]

Rustabout – an old geezer who sits on the couch all day staring at nothing and wishing fondly for the ‘good old days’ Eagleization – turning swathes of forest into sanctuaries because someone spotted what they thought was an endangered species Fantigue – Anxiety, irritation Surfeitishist – someone who is addicted to having too much of everything Presciouspicious – on the edge of being suspicious that something might be of more value than it appears to be (Antiques Roadhow) Carnibore – a meat eater who revels in regaling vegetarians about the humongous steak he ate last week Manimum – a guy who stays home with the kids every day Adoxography – Skilled writing on an unimportant subject Cacography – bad handwriting or spelling Pyknic…

In my ongoing quest for knowledge and useful information about self-publishing and website development, I’ve read several blogs lately (from purported ‘experts’) that contained misinformation or misinterpretation of standard fair use policies from sites where you can purchase and download royalty free photos. The two I use are iStockphoto and Shutterstock. One of my concerns was about iStockphoto, from where I’ve purchased most of the images I plan to use on book covers and on my new police professional website. The post I’d read implied that I could not use these products in cover art on my e-books or print on demand publications without springing for a much more expensive ‘extended licence’. I figured, go ‘right to the horse’s mouth’, so I wrote to…

I was supposed to be working on an article for the WCYR newsletter, but of course I got distracted half-way through the morning (must be the usnlight) and started reading and site-skipping. Here is a compendium of the goodies I discovered today. Many of the web authors have newsletters or Facebook pages that include valuable information. Just click on the descriptions for the web links. Self-Publishing Review Writers Digest – The Best 101 on Self-Publishing Resources READABILITY – turns web sites into easier-to-read resources Jane Friedman – Being Human at Electric Speed. Jane’s website is a treasure-trove of really useful information for writers. Here’s another one from Jane, on Building an Author Platform Susan Jackson Rogers article on Closing the Gap: Moving from Notebook…